Apparatus for grinding



Nov. 10, 931' G. T. HUXFORD ET AL APPARATUS FOR GRINDING Filed April 14, 1928 6 Sheets-Sh sc l,

Z IN VE TORS w/zz 3 M ATT R/L 1931- a. T. HUXFORD ET AL 1,831,353

APPARATUS FOR GRINDING Filed April 14, 1928 6 Sheets- Sheet 2 A TTORNEY Nov. 10, 1 31. G. T. HUXFORD ET AL ,83 ,353

- APPARATUS FOR GRINDING Filed April 14, 1928 6 sheets-sheet s ATTORNEY.

Nov. 10, 1931. F D ETAL 1,831,353

APPARATUS FOR GRINDING Filed April 14, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Jig-E13.

Nov 10, 193'1.

5. T. HUXFORD ET AL 1,831,353

APPARATUS FOR GRINDING Filed April 14, 1928 s Sheets-Sheet 5 120 722 a A? j 4 0 I 7w 2y? lax ,.,1z2 7 z6%/,%? j a ATTO NEY.

G. T. HUXFORD ET AL 1,831,353

APPARATUS FOR GRINDING Filed April 14, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 A TTOR @y mm ajlm n Patented Nov. 10, 1931 UNITEn PATENT,- oFFI ononen 'r. nuxroim, or rnovrnnircn'aim imam: n. srmr'ron, orcms'ron, nnonn ISLAND, nssrenons r marrow) momma oomramr, or rnovmnncn,- Bnonn ISLAND, a oonromrron or RHODE ISLAND Arrm'rns roa Gamma Application fled. April 14, 1828. serial flfo. 270,695. I

Our invention relates to improvements in the method of an apparatus for grinding capable of carrying out said improved method.

An object of our invention is to provide a grinding method and apparatus especially designed to eliminate the mechanical spring in the apparatus so far as is possible.

Another object of our invention is to provide an apparatus and method which will grind more evenly than former types, partially due to the fact that whatever pressure is initially employed and whatever spring is present in the apparatus isevenlydistributed over the rotating surface desired to be ground.

A further object of our invention is to' shorten the time necessary forgrinding. As the work is relatively rotated in addition to the wheel it is apparent that in a definite time there is a greater and more uniform distribution of cutting action of each active abrasive grain over the surface of the Work to be ground than if the work were stationary, and

the area of the work in contact with the grindrevolve the chuck holding center. Thus the ing surface is maintained at a maximum, and so far as possible ever particle in the work "is swept by every abrasive grain in the wheel. We preferably employ a substantially fiat o grinding surface such as the rim of an annulus or the side of a disk and so far as we are aware we are the first to rotate the Work preferably on an axis within itself preferably on its own center while being held in grinding relationship against a rotating substantially flat grinding surface. While the substantially flat grinding surface is preferably held coincident with the surface of the work to be ground, it is obvious that said surface may be relatively slightly tilted if desired for any reason or if desired to grind a flat conical surface.

While our method may be employed in any type of grinding it is preferably adapted to 45 be used in grinding in a lane at an angle to the horizontal, prefera ly in a vertical plane on a horizontal spindle type of grindmg machine. It is thus obvious that as the work is held at an angle to the horizontal the 60 detritus will tend by the force of gravity to drop off and not interfere with the grinding operation.

While our invention broadly comprises re tating a piece of work,-preferably on an axis within itself while being heldin contact with a rotating grinding element, preferably o a substantially flat grinding surface, our invention particularly also comprises'an improved method of continuous so called automatic grinding. We preferably mount a plural-it oo ofwork holding chucks o'n arotatable' chucii holding'center, mount a piece Ofworkon a chuck, rotate the chuckcenteruntil said work. comes into grinding position oppositea m: tatable grinding element, revolvethe'element and also preferably simultaneously thework preferably on its own center for the desired, grinding period and While that pieceof-work is being subjected to the grinding ri'od load another chuck with a piece ofwork ina position out of contact with said element. We then rotate the chuck holdin center to bring the ground work out of ind ing position and the freshlyloaded'wor into grlnding position, grind the work in grinding position and loading position for the operative is always the same and directlyin-front of the chuck desired to beloaded.

The piece of work may be integral or a plurality of pieces mounted symmetrically about the axis of any of the work holding chucks. The surface to "be ground maybe plane, conical or cylindrical, or variations therefrom. It must, however,"be a surface of B5 revolution. 1 Y

.Whereas, as stated, our invention includes rotating a iece of work preferably on an axis within itse f against a rotating-grindin element, whichmay be accomplished with the" rotating work held stationary during its contact with the wheel, if however, the improved loading method described in the last paragraph 18 employed, the work may either. be. moved to a position opposite a stationary grinding wheel and the grinding element and work revolved for the desired grinding period, thereby performing an intermittent operation of alternately grinding and rotating the chuck holding center or preferably the ro- 2.00

invention is particularly adapted for use with a achieved with a cup wheel whether the work tating piece of work may be continuously moved while in contact with the grinding element acrossthe grinding face thereof, preferably in a curved line and preferably rotated across. While the features of our invention as hitherto described may be employed in any type of grinding element our a so called cup or cylinder type of wheel, wherein the grinding surface thereof comprises a circular preferably substantially flat rim. For reasons to be explained, when a cup wheel is employed, it is articularly desirable that the work be move during its contact with the wheel. Similar results are is reciprocated or moved in a straight line across a portion of the wheel or moved in a broken line, or preferably rotated across, and analogous although not quite so good results may be attained with a disk'wheel having a substantially flat grinding surface.

Where a cup or disk wheel is employed and the work is rotated while being ground, it is apparent that there will be an appreciable amount of mechanical spring when the revolving work first contacts the revolving rim of the wheel and while it is moving across the periphery thereof. Due to the pressure employed the initial pass of the rotating work across the periphery of the wheel is largely an abrading heavy cutting action in which a considerable amount of the work is taken off. The effect of the spring is thus substantially compensated for during the initial stage and as the work is rotating is more evenly distributed thereover. After the rotating work passes the periphery of the rotating wheel, it

is obvious that it may then contact the rotating wheel at two Cpoints unless discs, cones, etc. are being groun This acts as a smoothing flattening or finishing grinding and if the rotating work contacts the wheel at a plurality of points it will tend to flatten out the work against the wheel resulting in a very smooth and uniform surface of contact all the way around and a very smooth and even grinding. In moving out of range of the grinding wheel, it is apparent that for the third stage the work Wlll again pass across the periphery of the wheel. This results in a highly desirable graining operation normally a circumferential graining. Thus, by our improved method, we are enabled to get a result hitherto only possible on three'different t pes of machines, namely,

(a) first stage heavy grinding action on a rough grinder or a cutter. v

(b) Asmoothing andstraightening or flattoning operation and,

(a) A graining operation only hithertopossible on a graining machine.

We preferably form a stream, preferably a rotating stream of work made up of a plu- 66 rality of pieces of revolving work and we preferably so space the work in the stream that one piece of work will be crossing the rim for the initial heavy grinding state, another piece of work will contact the work at two points of its periphery for a smoothing or flattening grinding state and a third piece -of work will be contacting the periphery of the rim, withdrawing from grinding contact 'motion the first and second stages, while still well defined, will become slightly merged and the effect of the spring and pressure, instead of being all felt to make the first stage a heavy grinding stage will be more evenly distributed between the first and second stages. 7

Further objects of our invention relate to an apparatus for carrying out our improved method in which the pieces of work are preferably mounted on a rotating work holding" center, which crosses the grinding surface of the rotating grinding wheel, thus subjecting the work to the well defined stages of grinding and finishing it with a desirable circumferential grain. We preferably provide means in said apparatus to if desired, relatively tilt the work and wheel so that their planes will not be substantially coincident. This may be done by tilting the wheel relative to the work or by tilting the chuck holder or the chucks individually relative to the wheel. While the salient features of our invention may be built into a grinding machine, we preferably, as shown, in the drawings provide our apparatus as an attachment for existing types of grinding machines adapted to be mounted on the bed thereof in which the work holding center and its chucks are all mounted on a suitable separate frame adapted to be mounted on said bed in the desired contacting relationship with the grinding wheel.

These and such other objects of our invention as may hereinafter appear will be best understood from a description of the accompanying drawings, which illustrate various embodiments thereof.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of our inchine having our improved attachment mounted on the bed thereof.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a portion of our improved attachment with adjacent portions of the grinding wheel.

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken along the line 44 of Fig. 2, the relative position of the wheel being indicated in dotted lines.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing how the work is preferably adjusted to abut the wheel to cause the spring and ressure to make it first pass across the perip cry of the rim in an abrading or heavy grinding action.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of our improved attachment and adjacent portions of the grinding wheel.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary plan view-of a portion of the apparatus shown in Fig. 6 in which the plane of each individual chuck may be slightly tilted at any angle from the plane of the wheel to distribute the effects of the spring and pressure between the different grinding stages.

Fig. 8 is a detailed plan view taken of the improved chuck attachment preferably employed, partially shown in section on line 89 of Fig. 7. I 1

1 Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view illustrating t ie the center.

Fig. 9 is a detailed sectional view of the preferred form of work holding chuck we preferably employ showing the means we preferably employ to release it from clamp-'- ing position and the adjacent portion of the chuck holding center on which it is mounted.

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view/showing the development of the cam-way.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of a different embodiment of our invention in which the work holding center is not continuously rotated, but is only rotated between grinding periods to bring the work into grinding position from a loading position and vice versa.

In the drawings, wherein like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout, 20 generally indicates a grinding machine provided with the usual table 22 and the usual grinding element 24. As shown in the draW-- ings our invention in its preferred form comprises an attachment for use on already existing types of horizontal spindle inding machines. While certain features 0 our in-- vention, such as the revolving of the work.

during the desired grinding period may take place in any plane on any type of a grinding machine, we preferably, as stated employ a grinding machine in which the grinding element thereof comprises a cup wheel or adisk wheel in order to secure the three desired stages in the grinding operation. Fig. 11 shows an embodiment of our invention in which the chuck holding center 26 is first rotated to bring the work desired to be ground into grinding position and the ground universal adjustment of the chucks onwork into unloading position and the work and wheel then rev erably however, continuous move thework across the fiat'grinding sur a 1-1O in a circle so as to secure "inthe final stage the desired circumferential grain and to permit amore easy loading and unloading; thereof. Figs. 2.-10 illustrate an embodi ment of our invention in which'the work hold-' ing center only has three chucks mounted thereon.

the chuck holding center'26 has a large plurality of chucks permit at least one piece of work to'be' sub jected to one stage of the grinding operation, whileother pieces of work are simultaneousgrin ding operation.

machine, which may be done if desired. As shown in: Figs. l-l0:we.provide' the frame 30 for our improved-attachment on] 1 which is mounted on a spindle 32 mounted on" trunnions-B l upstandingfromi said frame 30, the chuck holding center 26.. we mount sprocket 52 mountedon the shaft, 46. The

shaft 46 has the wor-in54 mounted thereon.

which meshes withthe worm gear 56 on the shaft 58. vided on the rear face thereof with the circumferential bevel drive gear 60 which is driven by thebevel gear 62 on-the adjacent end of the drive shaft 58. Said motor 42 thus through the means thus described rotates the chuck holding center 26. The chucks36 are preferably cylindrical and are provided with means, whereby 'each may be individually and intermittently revolved, for example on the periphery of each with the belt recess 64;. n h 4 the drive sh.

ftl l'G. The belt 65} passes around olved, while the work is held stationary in grinding osition, we pref ce ofthero'tat ing element preferably as shown; in Figs; I

Fig. 1, however, shows 'tl1e preferred embodiment. of our invention inwhich 36mounted thereon so as to ly being subjected to the-other stages of the;

F1 g. 11 moreover shows our invention constructed as an integral part of the grinding and the driving I The chuckholding center 26 is procasea pulley 66 is also mounted on 126 the pulley 66 and withinthe pulley gu de- While any suitable type of Work holding chucks 36 may be employed, we preferably.

employ the releasable chucks 36 shown in the power arms 102 of the levers 96 inwards detail in Fig. 9j each provided with a suitcausing the gripping fingers 100 to compress able releasing finger 74 projecting forwardly the work between them and the lip 94 and therefrom. The chucks 36 are suitably while the end of the plunger 74 abutsthe 5 mounted at the end of spindles 76 mounted relatively high portion 120 of the cam 118 on suitable bearings 78 projecting radially the work will be securely held in clamping j outwardly from the chuck center 26, said position. Thus, when a plurality of chucks spindles 76 being preferably mounted on ball are employed the cam is preferably constructbearings 80 on said bearings 78. A lever ed as shown with a relatively small low reof the first class 82 for each chuck is also leasing portion 122 so that the (haerative pivotedas at 84 on said bearings 78. The may stand adjacent said portion and take power arm 86 of said lever has attached to it away and put in pieces of work at the same a sleeve 90 slidable on said spindle 76. Each time from" the chucks 36 in released position.

chuck 36 is provided with the work receiving During the rest of the cycle the Work will face 92, preferably having a lip 94 or other be securely clamped to the chuck, even though means projecting therefrom to abut the inner the clamping portion of the cycle is con periphery of the work; To clam the outer siderably greater than the portion of the periphery of the work against sai lip 94, we cycle during which the work is in contact provide the spring actuated gripping fingers with the wheel. 96 comprising levers of the first class mount- We also provide means as shown in Figs.

ed on said chuck as at 98 having the work 7 and 8 whereby each individual chuck may arms 100 thereof adapted to contact the outer be tilted to hold the work surface to be peripher of the work and retain it in posiground tilted at an angle from the plane of tion against the lip 94 and the power arms the grinding surface in the direction of the 102 thereof projecting in rear of another direction of the works motion. As shown link 104 also pivoted at 98 to the chucks 36 n F g 7, '8 and 8 we universally mount the and having the outer end 106 thereof emhu k shafts 130 in the universal bearings ,bedded in a recess in the slidable sleeve 90. 2 at the ends of the trunnions 134 project- A spring 108 is inserted between the outer ng f m the chuck holder 26 and we emside of the power arm 102 of the lever 98 ploy the lockscrew 137 which actuates the and the inner surface of the link 104. The la p plug 1 8 to clamp the/shafts 130 in releasing fingers 74 comprise the pistons 74 f d P i Il A r ion 131 of the bearmounted in the cylinders 110 projecting forg 15 rg to the h 131 to fit wardly from each chuck and urged forwardinto the unlversal socket 132 in the trunnion ly by the springs 112. The end 1140f th 134. It is thus obvious that on unloosening piston projects forwardly from the cylinder h 100k Screw 32 the u k h ft may be 110 and preferably has the roller 116 mounttlhled'a't ny f gl y tiv t0 the Work and ed thereon. The rollers 116 are normally locked 111 }I' g 1 1 1I1g position. In Fig. adapted to abut a circular cam 118 shown in have h d in dotted lines the more detail in Fig. stationarily mounted h Y P 9 of the chuck shaft f r on the frame 30. As shown more in detail grlhdlhg a cohlcal shrface- Though W have in Figs. 4 and 10 the circular cam 118 is so P the relative adjustment between the constructed as to have a portion 120 of its g g Surface h the Work Provided for periphery relatively high between the points y means h h y adjusting the P a d b t h ld th k l d i th tion of the 1nd1v1dual chucks, it is obvious h k d a ti 122 f it periphery that if desired, the entire chuck holder 26 relatively low to permit the spring 112 .to y tllted relatlfe 9 the g g 1- push the piston 74 inwards to move the lever ffice t the grmdmg Surface y be 82 to slide the sleeve outwards to push tllted relatlve to the Stationary chucks the links l04 forward to raise up the work chuck holderso i so i

arms 100 of the levers 96 to free the work 99 from gripping engagement between the fingers 100 and the lip 94 thus permitting it to be released and a new piece of work to be laid in the recess between the lip 94 and fingers 100. Referring once more to Fig. 10 we see that the rise is gradual between the relatively low portion 122 and the relatively high por- As stated, Fig. 11 illustrates a type of semi-continuous, semi-automatic rinding machine having certain features 01 vention incorporated:therein, namely, that of the continuous rotating work holding center 26 with two chucks 36 mounted on diametrically oppositepoints onthe periphery thereof and intermittently rotatable for a semiu revolution to brin intermittentl either a 60 tion 120 and as sa d releasing finger (4 abuts ternate Chuck 36a 5;. 36b into alteglate i; 125 thls T159 2 1t W111 P e P ing position opposite the grinding wheel 24.

' wards against the PIIQSSUI'B Of the SpIlIlg 112 In this embodiment, we provide the. motor to move the respective sleeve 90 inwards of 150 which drives through the medium of the said shaft 76 to move the links 104 inwards belt 152 the grinding wheel 24 mounted on M and through the pressure of the springs 108, the cross shaft 154 and we individually revolve through the medium of the motors 37 and 37*, the chucks36 and 36 The chuck holding center is revolved as shown in the embodiment by the belt 68 driven by the motor 42. As stated, the operation of this apparatus is semi-automatic and while the respective controls of the motors may be synchronized so as to make their turning off and on automatic, they may if desired as shown in the drawings be manually controlled in operation. Assuming that there is no work in any chuck, the chuck 36 is first loaded with work by the operative standing opposite it, the chuck 36 occupying the grinding pos1- tion shown in the drawings. The motor 42 is then turned on and this automatically shuts itself oii after a half revolution of the chuck holding center 26 to bring the loaded chuck 36 einto respective grinding position opposite and adjacent to the wheel 24. The m0- tor 37* is then manually turned on to revolve the chuck 36 with its contained work and the motor 150 is turned on to revolve the grinding wheel 24. The work 99 is thus held in a stationary position while revolved. The

work 99 in the chuck 36 is then revolved and the wheel 24 revolved for the desired grinding period after which the motor 37" is and 150 may be turned off to stop rotation of the work 99 in the chuck 36 and rotation of the wheel and the motor 42 turned on to revolve the chuck holding center to cause the work 99 in the chuck 36* shown to revolve to a loading position and the freshly loaded work in the chuck 36 to revolve to grinding position. hen the work 99 in the chuck 36 has attained a grinding position, the wheel 24 and chuck 36 are then rotated through the medium of the motors 150 and 57 for the desired grinding period, the chuck 36 being unloaded of its ground work and charged with a new piece of work. This cycle of operations is continuously repeated, the motors 150 and 37 a and 37 being turned on for the desired period of time and then-turned off, and the motor 42 being turned on for the desired rotating period of the chuck holding center 26. V

While the type of apparatus just described in the preceding paragraph embodies certain features of our invention, it does not move the work across the. flat grinding surface of the grinding element during the grinding period. which is desirable for various reasons, namely, if a cup or disk wheel is employed to perform the three stage operation hitherto explained and to provide speed in the grinding operation by forming a stream of work consisting of rotating pieces of work following one after the other. preferably so spaced that at one single time there will be at least a single piece of work simultaneously in each cutting stage. lVe ill now describe the operation of the apparatus shown in Figs. 210 for carrying out the preferred embodiment of our improved method. Assuming that no individual chuck is loaded with work, the operative takes his position opposite the point I) on the cam and while the chuck 36 (Fig. 4) is in released position inserts a piece of work to be ground between the fingers 100 and lip 94 thereof and holds said piece of work against said chuck until the particular chuck 36 arrives at the point a on the cam when the fingers 100 will be depressed to securely clamp the work in position during the cycle of rotation. The operative remains in position opposite the point 6 and as each successive chuck comes opposite him removes a piece of work from the then released chuck and inserts another piece in said chuck before it reaches the point a;v of the cam when it becomes securely clamped to the chuck during the balance of the period of the cycle of revolution of the center 26. A revolving chuck first crosses the periphery 25 of the rotating grinding wheel 24 and as stated, and as diagrammatically shown in Fig. 5 and at the point A in Fig. 4, due to the pressure exerted thereon it is preferably so adjusted that it will overlap the wheel a considerable amount and in crossing the periphery, the revolving work will be subjected to the first stage of the grinding operation, namely, a heavy grinding or abrading which takes a considerable amount off of the material to be removed yet rough due in part to the spring. As also stated hitherto, the work then passes through the first grinding stage to the second grinding stage as shown at the point B in Fig. 4, where the revolving work contacts the periphery of the rim at two places and thus the grinding is evenly distributed over the entire surface to be ground. The first stage of cutting has taken off so much that the work then is quite smooth and bears uniformly against the periphery of the rim and is flattened. The secondstage of thegrinding operationtherefore resultsin a smoothing out or flatteningoperation in which the surface of thework is smoothed. The work is then eclipsed across the peripheryof the wheel so as to pass across the rim again as diagrammatically illustrated at point C in Fig. 4. In passing across the periphery of the rotating rim again as the rim rotates in a circular direction almost in the same plane -as the plane of rotation ofthe work, it is obvious that a peripheral grain is embedded on the ground work, a highly desirable operation. We thus see that the grinding operation wherein a cup or disk wheel is employed resolves itself in three well defined stages, namely stage A, a heavy grinding stage, stage B, a smoothing or flattening stage when the work contacts the periphery of the rim at vtwo places and stage C, a graining stage where the work in moving again passes across the periphery 25 of the rotating rim. As stated hitherto, if a cup wheel is employed the same three well defined stages will be attained if the table and work are merely moved in a straight line across the rotating rim. As also stated hitherto and as shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 8' each chuck may be slightly tilted so that the work will tilt at an angle away from the grinding surface of the annuhe in the direction of the. works motion while passing through the three stages. In this case while stages A and B will still be well defined, there will be more or less of a merger in the action of the first two stages, the effect of the spring and pressure being more evenly distributed during the first two stages than in the case where it passes across the periphery of the wheel in the same plane therewith and where practically all the effect of the spring is taken up while passing through the rim in stage A. This Wlll tend to make stage A a stage less of a heavy grinding stage and the stage B more of a heavy grinding stage. It is apparent, however, that by tilting the planes of the grinding surfaces and work relative to each other so as to not make them substantially coincident, various different grinding effects may be produced. If desired, the work may be tilted as shown in Fig. 8 if a clearly conical surface is desired thereon.

As stated hitherto, we preferably rotate a continuous stream of work made up of a plurality of revolving pieces of work across a rotating annulus. Where the stream of work is continuously rotated across said annulus, it permits a novel type of method of loading and unloading of said apparatus as the work is continuously put into a position where the operative can successively load the chuck without changing his position. While we have illustrated in the drawings a continuous stream of work rotating across the periphery of a rotating annulus, it is obvious, however, that for certain features of our invention it may be merely reciprocated across and as stated hitherto, and as pointed out in the appended claim we broad- 1y claim the idea of rotating a piece of work preferably on an axis within itself preferably substantiallv fiat against a rotating grinding element, whether the work center is continuously' moving or not and have shown in Fig. 11 a type of machine where the work center i held stationary during the grinding operation. As stated, while for certain features of our invention, it is desirable that the grinding element comprises a rotating annulus, as more clearly pointed out in the appended claim, the grinding element may comprise a wheel of any desired type, preferably for certain features of our invention one having a substantially flat grinding surface. In Fig. 1 we have shown our preferredtype of apparatus so designed as to simultaneously subject one piece of work to stage A of the grinding operation heretofore referred to, an-

other piece of work to stage B and another limited to. the specific embodiments shown and methods described, and that various deviations may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

What we claim is:

In a grinding machine, a grinding element, a, rotatable work holding center mounted opposite a ortion of the grinding surface of the grin ing element, a plurality of releasable work holding chucks mounted on said center adapted to hold work in grinding relationship to said grinding element, means to rotate said grindin element, means to rotate said work holding center, means to rotate said chucks, means to relatively tilt the grinding element and work, and means to lock said means in relative tilted position.

GEORGE T. HUXFORD. FRANK E. STRATTON.

is understood that our invention'is not 

